Candlelight vigil marks National Coming Out Day in New Bedford

About three dozen people, many of them young men and women, celebrated National Coming Out Day Thursday with candles, courage, remembrance and pride.

ANIKA CLARK

NEW BEDFORD — About three dozen people, many of them young men and women, celebrated National Coming Out Day Thursday with candles, courage, remembrance and pride.

"This evening we show a public display of support for those youth among us who have chosen to come out, in whatever way they feel safe and comfortable doing," said Christopher Breault, a gay 19-year-old from New Bedford. "We also demonstrate that we are committed to a creating a culture of support and acceptance — not tolerance, but acceptance for youth in our community."

He and others spoke before the New Bedford Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth's drop-in center — a cheery-looking spot named "A Perfect Place " for youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, along with their allies.

One by one, youth in attendance stepped up to the microphone and said they're proud of who they are. Rachelle Adams, 21, of Fairhaven said she's proud to be "pan-sexual," a term she said sums up her view of gender as an "accessory," and not a defining factor in her decision of whom she chooses as a partner. Another participant said she's proud to be a lesbian, another bisexual, while another voiced pride in being transgender and pan-sexual.

Bethany Toure, an adult adviser at "A Perfect Place," said she was proud to be "gender queer," which she described as a refusal to boxed into society's definition of "male" and "female." She said she also identifies as "queer," which means she knows she's part of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community without feeling the need to be defined by any one of those terms.

"I'm just going to be who I am, as I am," she said.

Christian DeMoranville, 20, of New Bedford said he's proud to be gay. Storm St. Onge, 19, of New Bedford — who attended Thursday's event to support friends — said he's proud to be straight.

But Thursday's event also supported all of the people who struggle to pronounce who they are so publicly, including those whose struggles have led to suicide. The National Center for the Prevention of Youth Suicide said many studies have found a higher rate of suicide attempts among lesbian, gay and bisexual youth than their straight peers and also cited a separate study that found a high rate of suicide attempts among transgender respondents.

DeMoranville told the audience about a partner who had remained in the closet to loved ones; he felt there was no one who would understand and accept him and he took his own life.

"I'm here and I'm a part of this group because of people like him," he said. " ... There needs to be a perfect place for these kids to go, so that we can support them. ... We need to be the ones that stand up in this generation to say, 'Enough.'"